


Meanwhile in Terandria

by BrokenLegend



Category: The Wandering Inn - pirateaba
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21871534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenLegend/pseuds/BrokenLegend
Summary: An out of work singer and a programmer are backpacking and find themselves transported to InnWorld's Terandria and find out about the leveling system.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Wandering Inn](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/543604) by Pirateaba. 



When making a backpacking trip through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, one does not expect to find a castle. Then again, usually, the terrain does not instantly change from raining in a wooded valley in fall to clear skies over rolling hills of grasslands in spring. Matt turned to his reluctant hiking companion Suzy to let her know what was happening.

“Hey, I think I’m having hallucinations. We need to go back and call the trip off.”

Suzy, Matt’s not-so-secret crush who he believed was way out of his league, looked up from staring at her feet, blinked up at Matt and looked around and summed up her thoughts.

“Huh?”

Suzy had zoned out just following Matt’s huge feet, which had happened quite a bit. She hadn’t wanted to go on a three-day backpacking trip with him in the first place, but her band had just broken up and she needed a break from her dreams of being a famous singer being shattered. She had been seriously contemplating trying out for one of those singing talent reality shows that she had mocked relentlessly in the past. Matt had pestered her to go on the trip until she had given in. 

Suzy was wondering if Matt was going to use this time to try to get closer to her and get all romantic. She was pretty sure that he had been hitting the gym and using diet and exercise to turn his tall overweight body into something more attractive to her. Then she had complimented him _a bit_ and he had used that encouragement and went too far with it and turned his body from less fat to athletic. Matt was a tall, somewhat handsome guy with short brown hair, but she just wasn’t really into him that way. He was her nerdy friend and she just couldn’t shake that image of him. She had known him all her life and had never thought of him as boyfriend material he was more like a brother to her. Those thoughts left her head when she saw the castle in the distance. And the serfs working the fields. And the people using horses and wagons. And the freaking medieval town next to the castle.

“Matt? Are you seeing this?”

“Are you seeing a castle straight from the middle ages? If so yeah.”

“Did we get transported back in time or something?”

“No clue, it must be something like that. The forest we were in is just gone. I guess we could ask the people in the town. We probably want to stay away from the gentry, from what I understand that they were basically mob bosses or bandits who were powerful enough to become the government.”

Matt tried to remain calm so Suzy wouldn’t freak out because that wouldn’t help in this potentially deadly situation. Actually, he was pretty excited. He had read lots of science fiction and fantasy and it was his secret, unreasonable hope that something like this would happen to him. Matt put down his overstuffed backpack full of things no true hiker would take and pulled out an overpriced pair of binoculars and took a look at the town. He saw guards at the gate and saw that some of the civilians were visibly armed with swords, clubs, and bows.

“Looks like there isn’t a ban on weapons. We should do the same and arm ourselves.”

He pulled out a kukri machete and attached the leather sheath to his belt. Matt was sort of a prepper hobbyist, not nutzo or anything. He just liked to buy things that would help with the inevitable zombie apocalypse. As he liked to joke. Because it was a joke. Really.

He retrieved a five-inch fixed blade knife for Suzy and used some paracord to strap it’s sheath to her much more sensible backpack’s shoulder harness and warned her that it was _very_ sharp and not to pull it out unless she was ready to use it. Nobody likes to see people waving knives around. Matt wanted to not to excite the locals any more than their modern gear might upset them. He remembered science fiction was full of cautionary tales of cultures colliding and bad things happening. Most of them are short stories because they kill off everyone so quickly. He had a horrible vision of them being burned at the stake or murdered. He wondered if he was paranoid or if he'd seen one too many horror films. Matt hesitated and then pulled out his Smith & Wesson M&P 40 with attached Trijicon RMR red dot and concealed carry holster and attached it to his belt in the small of his back.

“You brought a gun‽”

Matt winced, Knowing that this would happen. Suzie was all about gun control.

“In case of bears, Suzy. Gotta be prepared. Aren’t you glad I brought it now? Also, you’re freaking out about the gun and not about the time travel?”

Suzy didn’t answer and grunted, signifying that this discussion wasn’t over, just postponed.

Matt put his large overstuffed backpack on again which, he noticed, prevented him from drawing his gun easily. It was a last resort in any case. If the gun came out and they survived, he figured they would be fighting for their lives afterward, with people wanting his boomstick. He thought for a second and then pulled out his android phone and checked for a signal. No bars, but that wasn’t that unusual for where they had been hiking. He checked the GPS. Nothing. He put his phone away.

“Suzy, unless my phone is messed up, we are either in the past or not on Earth. No GPS Satellite reception. Can you check your iPhone?”

“Good idea. Yeah, nothing on mine either.”

“Ok. Let’s see if we can find out when and where we are. Huh. Never thought I’d say that.”

“I know, right? All your nerdish dreams are coming true,” Suzy grinned.

Suzy trying to keep calm because she worried that Matt would have a full-on nerdgasm if she started asking how this was possible. Someone needed to keep a cool head. They could die pretty quickly if they were accused of witchcraft or didn’t bow to some high mucky-muck.

They walked about two miles until they got to the walled city and found that the castle was much larger than they thought. They overheard other travelers coming and going from the gate and realized that they spoke English.

“Gotta be England then,” Matt whispered to Suzie. She nodded.

“You’d better do the talking, women are barely considered people in the past.”

Matt considered it an achievement that he didn’t mock her hint of the dreaded patriarchy but agreed with her in this case. He quickly found that perhaps women’s rights were alive and well because the two guards at the huge gate were women. He saw their bored faces get more alert when they drew closer.

“Excuse me, we’re new here, do you know where we could find…”

The impatient blonde guard on the right had looked at their backpacks and weapons and interrupted him, “The Adventurers Guild is down the main street on your right. You can’t miss it. Welcome to Homefast. Next!”

Matt and Suzy walked along the main street and waited to speak until they were out of earshot.

“Suzy, I don’t think we’re in jolly olde England if women are guards. Do you think this is an alternate timeline or a different dimension?”

“How should I know? You’re the fiction reader. I’ve just seen a few Marvel movies and you had to explain those to me. Which I’m still not sure if I understand.”

“In any case, we don’t have any of the local money and our food won’t last more than a few days. I wish I had brought my silver and gold coin collection. I doubt that there are many jobs for a programmer like me, but you’re a professional singer, which would be way better than the amateur hour they would have here. Plus, you can cover any great song in the world and say it’s yours.”

“Yeah, too bad we don’t have band members, music sheets or instruments.”

“There’s got to be some great songs that sound fine without instruments… Right?”

“There are some, but the instruments are what really would show these people what music is really like. I’m not exactly sure how we would set up a concert or if the people here would pay for tickets for an unknown. As my old manager used to say, ‘It takes money to make money.’”

“Come on, you’ve played in bars before. In this place, the equivalent would probably be an Inn. We just have to make a deal with the innkeeper and see if he’s willing to pay us for entertaining his guests. If worse comes to worst, I can sell some of our camping gear.”

“Fine. I wouldn’t imagine there are many entertainers in a feudal system. That looks like an inn across from that Adventurers Guild ahead. We’ll check out if they want me singing.”

They entered the inn and found it full of mostly armored men and women eating at tables with others in robes with staffs and wands. There was even a dwarf with a huge beard. After getting over their shock of the D&D stereotypes, Suzy went to the innkeeper who was chatting with a table full of archers.

"Excuse me, mister innkeeper? My name is Suzy and this is my friend Matt, I am a singer and I was wondering if I could perform in your inn."

The short greying innkeeper seemed a bit annoyed at being interrupted but put on a smiling face.

"My name is Tuck Blackwell. I usually don't have shows this early in the day. I have a [Bard] showing up for the evening crowd. I don't think I'd be able to pay you unless I saw you drawing in customers off of the street. You would have to rely on tips. I'll give you dinner, but only if you're good."

The innkeeper showed her the small stage and left her to attend to paying customers. Shaking his head at himself for being such a pushover.

Suzy drilled herself mentally to prepare for singing without a microphone as she and Matt stowed their backpacks. She’d have to project to the inn and hope they didn’t boo or throw vegetables. She had been in a cover band for quite a while before they started writing their own stuff. So she wanted to start with something that would be classic but good without instruments. She had done a renaissance fair gig that Matt had set up for her with lots of begging. The song “Greensleeves” would be a great fit. It was a really old song dating back centuries and perhaps they had heard it. It was good enough that the music was used for the Christmas carol, “What Child is This?” She went over the lyrics a few times and then went up on the raised platform at the back of the inn’s common room and began to sing before she lost her nerve.

Matt loved watching Suzy sing. He thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was quite tall for a girl at six feet and two inches and had strawberry blonde hair. He thought it was perfect for his frame of six feet eight inches. She always complained that men didn’t like taller women and that always made him hopeful of his chances with her. She wasn’t willow thin, Suzy was thicker with athletic legs and arms which he preferred in women. Matt admitted to himself that he probably would prefer any body type that Suzy had. To him, she floated above the earth and kept a spare halo in her back pocket at all times.

The room which was borderline boisterous quickly became silent as Suzy went through the haunting lyrics of the song. Her voice reached out and grabbed everyone’s attention. When Suzy was performing she prided herself on having great pitch and tone and worked hard at her voice with lots of practice and voice coaches throughout her life. To her, her voice was her livelihood. And she was _good_.

As the song finished into silence, nothing happened. Matt wondered if they had committed some sort of blasphemy. The song _was_ about a lady the singer loved. Maybe you had to be male to sing something like that. Then the inn’s common room quickly filled with applause. Coins began to be tossed at the stage, copper coins and the rare silver rained down on the floor in front of the singer. Matt began picking them up and put them in a titanium boiling pot from his backpack that he had placed on the stage. He really hoped that the copper’s equivalent wasn’t pennies and the silver wasn’t nickels or dimes.

Manual labor in the weather and not enough to eat could cause women to lose their soft skin not to mention regular soap and hair products. He believed Suzy was probably unnaturally beautiful for this era. It might cause more problems than benefits in the future. He thought that if a young lord took a fancy to her, there might not be anything they could do to prevent them from forcing her to marry or simply kidnapping her. As he nervously pondered the future, Suzy began her next song.

Matt realized that Suzy was having one of her better performances. She hit the notes perfectly, smiling at the crowd as if they were part of the performance and drew them in with her eyes and expressions. This is how he had realized he was in love with Suzy. When they were sophomores in high school and she was performing in _The Sound of Music_ as the nun turned nanny. He had been fiercely jealous when the play's Austrian widower fell in love and married the singing caretaker. She was and still is so beautiful. It again made him feel inadequate to her beauty, talent, and poise. He felt like an oafish grubby peasant that had fallen in love with a beautiful princess. Inadequate. Unworthy. Though he knew it was hopeless, he still yearned for the return of his feelings. Being her friend was a poor substitute, but it was all he had and he treasured every bittersweet moment.

Suzy went through the lineup of her renaissance songs and then went into songs she knew the words to and that could be sung decently without instruments “The Sound of Silence” really surprised the crowd with its strange lyrics that blended so well. “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” made Matt tear up at the irony of that song. Sinatra’s “My Way” caused a lot of veterans in the crowd to throw silver after choking back their tears. Even helped by amazing songs, she was in rare form tonight and was pleased by the attention and the collection of coins she was acquiring. The beautiful voice from the inn brought in customers like moths to a flame and tables close to the stage were jealously guarded.

As the night progressed the pot filled and Matt dumped it into a dry sack and the pot filled again. And again. He decided to secure the backpacks and dry sack with the innkeeper after thinking about all the money they had been visibly collecting. The innkeeper was arguing quietly with a man with a lute who then left in a huff.

Mat asked the innkeeper while glancing at the leaving man, “Do you mind if we keep our stuff with you behind the bar Mr. Blackwell?”

“That’s fine my boy,” the grey-haired man clapped him on the shoulder and had Matt place the two backpacks behind the counter. “Let Miss Suzy know that she can keep singing. I’ve canceled the bard scheduled for tonight to make sure she can go on for as long as she wishes. You should have told me she was a high leveled singer. And such songs. I’ve never heard anything like them, but they are so good!”

When Suzy’s voice began to tire long into the night, she thanked the standing room only crowd and stepped down from the stage still high from her experience. She had forgotten some words a few times and had some awkward pauses for music that no one but she and Matt could tell was missing, but in all, she was proud of her performance. She followed her old manager’s advice and went around the room and shook hands and chatted with the inn’s patrons and made instant lifelong fans with a little attention. Matt followed, looming over her shoulder trying to look intimidating keeping his hand not near the machete that he wore, but close to his back where there was a slight bulge under his clothes. Little did he know that some experienced fighters were feeling caution when sizing him up as if they could sense the danger he potentially was to them.

Many of the armed groups introduced themselves as Bronze and Silver Adventurers with group names. A group of archers, a Silver group named Killing Rain. The Grey Wolves were also Silver-ranked and were a group of older fighters with lots of faded scars. Matt was surprised that there were so many women adventurers as part of the groups, most were men, but more women than he thought there would be were part of the groups. There was even a Bronze group that were all female mages named The Valkyries of Homefast. Matt almost fell down thinking wizards and sorcery, but Suzy was thinking Penn and Teller. Suzy showed surprise on her face, “That’s so cool! I love magic! Can you show me something?”

Emily, a short redhead in a green robe nodded, blushed prettily and raised a hand, “[Light].” The word seemed to have a strange resonance, it was more than what was simply spoken or heard. Matt felt the hairs on his arms rise from goosebumps as a globe of light rose up from the girl’s pointed finger. Entranced, Suzy touched and then put her hand into the light. Her hand in the bubble of light looked strange somehow. Matt realized that there were no shadows on the hand because her hand was _inside_ the light source, which Matt firmly believed was an impossibility without magic.

While Matt was floored, Suzy was doubly surprised with her eyes very wide. “How did… Magic… Amazing.” Then Suzy’s eyes focused on Emily like a laser beam with visions of Hogwarts dancing in her head, “where did you learn magic?” Her voice seemed calmer, but she was anything but calm.

Emily blushed even deeper red looking like a tomato while speaking to her new idol but proudly said, “We’ve taken lessons from a true Winstrom graduate, but we also aspire to one day go to Winstrom to learn magic after we’ve collected enough money from adventuring. I’m currently a Level 7 [Mage]!”

Suzy was aware that they had been at the table for far longer than the other tables and moved on after saying our goodbyes. After greeting everyone in the inn, Matt and Suzy collected their things and headed up the stairs where the rooms were with Tuck the innkeeper leading the way. He ecstatically let them know he had sold food and drinks enough for a week of normal business not to mention he sold out every room in the inn on a weekday. He brought us to a room and then handed us _two gold coins_ and hinted that while we could get more if we kept playing his inn. He spoke about how he could raise his prices, perhaps expand the common room and build a better stage and invite a [Bard] to play and sing with Suzy, maybe even hire a cook with [Advanced Cooking]. His eyes were shining. “Dead gods! I wouldn’t be surprised if I leveled up and maybe get a skill or two tonight!”

While talking to people downstairs, they were falling over themselves to keep Suzy’s attention and put themselves in a good light. Matt and Suzy had heard so many mentions of levels and skills, but the first time that they had heard of leveling up. They had thought that people had been judged to be that level, like a certification, but it seemed that they achieved levels, like an RPG or video game using experience and were granted skills when they leveled.

Suzy glanced at Matt then asked the [Innkeeper], “What levels and skills do you have?” After the experience with meeting over a hundred people downstairs, Suzy gathered that it was somewhat impolite to ask that, but she did it anyway since Tuck was excited with them and seemed to want to get on their good side.

The [Innkeeper] seemed surprised but seemed ready to be forthcoming. “Of course, of course, I understand that you’d want the best, but I feel that I would be a better fit in this situation than even a higher leveled [Innkeeper]. I’ll give you some of my relevant levels and skills which I feel would be an asset for you. I am a level 16 [Innkeeper], a level 12 [Bartender] and I even have 6 levels in [Bouncer] with some of my skills being [Lesser Strength], [Lesser Endurance], [Quick Recovery], [Bar Fighting], and [Basic Cooking]. Not to mention various other skills, but those are some of my more impressive ones. I may not be the highest leveled [Innkeeper] in the city, but I feel my levels and skills and that of my staff are a great match for your skills, plus we are across the street from the Adventurers Guild, who tend to be more loose with their coin. While nobles might frequent other inns we will occasionally get a few of the gentry slumming er, visiting our fine establishment.”

Suzy nodded as if impressed. “Very nice, We will stay on for at least another day or so on a trial basis.”

The [Innkeeper] nodded so much Suzy though his head would come off. “Yes, yes. Very good. Our simple Inn is at your disposal and of course, your room and your food are free while you work here. I’ll have Ellen, one of our [Barmaid] staff bring you up some food and drink.”

He then left them to send some food up. Matt pulled out some fat water filtration straws from his backpack and gave one to Suzy.

“For water filtration. Wine and ale should be fine, the alcohol purifies the drink.”

Suzy nodded. After eating the food and using the facilities, they were too tired to speak of all of the crazy things the world had. They hoped that a good night’s rest would help them make sense of it. They were both in the same room, but luckily there were separate beds. Matt was used to shorter beds and his feet were hanging quite far over the end of the bed. They extinguished the candles and closed their eyes. Suzy had quite a surprise just as she was falling asleep.

[Singer Class Obtained!]

[Singer level 7!]

[Skill – Perfect Recall obtained!]

[Skill – Control Pitch Learned!]

[Skill – Enhanced Vocal Range obtained!]

[Skill – Celebrity Aura obtained!]

Suzy yelped and then realized what had happened.

“Matt! I’m a [Singer]! Wake up!”

Matt’s eyes snapped open from his sleep, "Wuzzat?" He blinked a few times.

"I'm a [Singer]!” repeated Suzy with an amazed look on her face.

Matt gave Suzy a long serious look. "Yes Suzy, you are a singer. Did you know the sky is blue, the sun makes light and I need sleep?"

She rolled her eyes at him, a habit that really annoyed Matt.

"Dork! I mean I now have eight levels in [Singer] with skills. Get me a pen and paper. I'm going to write them down." She didn't think she would forget. She wasn't sure she _could_ forget those words she had heard, and not because of [Perfect Recall]. It was as if when she thought of her Class or skills, she could remember the voice in her head perfectly.

Matt complied and gave her a small field book and a collapsible pen from his backpack. "The paper is rainproof and the pen is a space pen that will write upside-down. I got them for the hiking trip in case we needed it." Matt realized he was babbling and was so tired he was dizzy. He decided that lying down would be very comfortable and did so, fully intending to stay awake and discuss this amazing world. He only stayed awake long enough to pull the covers up to his chin.

Suzy finished and saw that Matt was out like a light. She turned off the light on her phone and went to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day in the new world is full of revelations about levels.

Matt woke, remembering dreams of magic lights and not being able to find Suzy even though he could hear her voice. His dream quickly faded, seeming to be about looking for a way to level up but no one would tell him how to do it. The dream evaporated completely with the light of morning and the return of logic, but though details of dreams tend to fade, what remained of the visions seemed to impart strange importance.

Matt got up and put on his clothes and looked over at the sleeping [Singer] in the next bed. So beautiful. He picked up the yellow field book where Suzy had noted her level up. She had been very detailed and had gained some skills with her level up. He noticed that while she had been granted some skills, she had  _ learned _ [Control Pitch] and not obtained it. Suzy always liked to brag that her pitch was really good. Matt wondered if that skill was learned because she already knew how to do it.

He was an analytical person and began pondering levels and skills and comparing them with his extensive experience with video games and role-playing. In high school, he had built a character and kept choosing levels in different classes or roles for the different skills that they offered and it had worked at first. Unfortunately, this hobbled his character for the long term and it was soon outclassed by the other players that had higher tier spells and abilities and even though he had more skills, they were not very powerful and he could only use one at a time. Matt remembered Tuck said he wasn’t as high a level [Innkeepers] as others, but he had other skills and levels. Could it be that Tuck had taken too many classes and had damaged his future potential? Or were classes not affected by levels in other classes? He needed more information.

Suzy was still asleep. Matt wrote her a note and let her know he was going to get something to eat downstairs and maybe visit the Adventurer’s Guild. He grabbed a handful of coins and a notepad and pen, armed himself, and went downstairs to eat.

After a decent breakfast of bacon and eggs, he spoke with the [Innkeeper], “Good morning Tuck, and thank you for a great breakfast. I’m writing a book about levels as a hobby, can you tell me how many levels in different classes you have? You don’t have to give me the specific classes, just the number of levels you have, for example, you yourself might start with 16, 12, 6. That way you’re not revealing your classes.”

Tuck pondered that and then smiled, “Actually that would start with  _ 17 _ , 12, 6.”

“Oh, then congratulations, Mr. Blackwell!”

The [Innkeeper] was all smiles, “Much of it had to do with your singing companion and the crowd she gathered. I’ve felt that I was on the edge of gaining another level for a while now. I am getting on in years you see. Let me think. Levels.”

Tuck narrated the separate classes he had by the number of levels and looked somewhat embarrassed when he said the last number. He noticed that Matt was writing with a pen in a notebook.

“What a neat little quill you are using. Is it an artifact of some sort?”

Matt looked at his pen for a moment and nearly shoved it in his pocket in reaction when he realized that of course pens were an invention of the modern era.

“Something like that. As part of my research, I’m trying to get an idea of what people know or believe about levels and classes without my own beliefs or knowledge, so if you can please answer even the most basic and obvious questions, that would help immensely.”

Matt hoped his explanation of research would cover any questions that he might ask that might expose his origins. Goodness knows that just the contents of his and Suzy’s backpacks might be worth millions here, or rather a lot of gold.

Tuck looked around and scratched his belly, “Sure, that’d be fine, the morning is usually really slow for us and my staff should be able to handle it for a few minutes.”

“Great! How does one get a class?”

“You have to start doing whatever that class does, sometimes takes a while, but usually younger people get the class pretty quickly, usually on the first day or two.”

"What age is the youngest and oldest you’ve heard of someone gaining their first class and what is the average?”

“I’ve heard of a girl get a class once at the age of five. [Seamstress]. The mother had taught her daughter. Bragged all over town that her daughter was a prodigy. Not sure about the oldest one might get a class, most people wouldn’t be very proud of not having a level if they were a late bloomer. Usually, a child will get at least one class by around eight to ten years old.”

“At what rate do people get levels?”

Tuck looked up at the ceiling, “Well, people tend to level up faster when they’re younger and slower when they’re older. It helps to be an apprentice to someone in the same class that they are leveling in. Also, when the class is starting out, the levels come pretty quickly, shooting up fast, especially when it’s being used a bunch. It seems to happen when there is a need for it or something big happened. Take me for instance, when I was a young bartender, the levels came pretty quickly at first. I got to level five in a year. The next five levels after that took five years. I did earn a few other classes and levels during that time though.”

“What is the highest level you’ve ever heard of and what is the average level for one at retirement?”

“The highest level I’ve ever heard of is around sixty-something, but that’s world-renowned people that can rival cities in power. There are old legends of levels in the seventies, but it might not be true. Most people end up with their highest level being in the twenties.”

Matt looked over his notes that he had been taking, “So would you say that for each level in a particular class, it takes longer to level up again?”

“Definitely.”

“Would you say a person at level thirty were more powerful than someone with two classes at level twenty and why?”

“The level thirty would be more powerful by far. The more levels you have, the more powerful your skills will be. The person at level twenty would be overwhelmed at the power of the skills, even if the person at level thirty didn’t get any really good ones when leveling up.”

Matt tried to hide his excitement. Skills were more powerful with the level. At first, he had thought that he should get one level in a bunch of classes, maximize his number of skills and be a jack-of-all-trades.

He continued, “What about skills? Are they random?”

Tuck scratched his chin, “Well they are sometimes. For example, you might have a real need or want for a skill, and it might or not be obtained at the next level, but it seems that it increases the chances.”

Matt finished up his notes and excused himself and then left the Inn heading across the street to the Adventurers Guild. He entered the large building and saw a reception counter and a lounge area off to the side where there were several groups of tough-looking men and women chatting or looking at notices on a bulletin board. He got in line to speak with a receptionist and checked his notes that he had made with the [Innkeeper].

It seemed that Suzy received an unusual number of levels in [Singer] right off the bat. Could that be because of all her past singer experience? If so, he could probably level up in [Programmer], but computers weren’t a thing here, so that wouldn’t work. It seemed that it was better to specialize in something, but was there a limit? There seemed to be. If the video game or RPG analogy were true, then there might be a total limit of levels across all classes before it got too hard to level up. He counted up the total levels the [Innkeeper] had. Eighty-three across fifteen classes. With his theory, if the Innkeeper had taken levels in only one class, he probably wouldn’t have all eighty-three levels since gaining the first levels might be somewhat easier, but he’d probably be around level fifty or sixty. The [Innkeeper] seemed to think getting older slowed down leveling, but surely it was because an older person would have so many total levels, even gaining a level in a new class would be tough.

The learned skill that Suzy got last night was itching at his brain. Perhaps skills that affected one passively, like [Enhanced Vocal Range] or [Lesser Strength] was something that couldn’t be learned. From what he knew, one’s vocal range couldn’t be learned, it was something you were born with. Might he have an advantage over others by getting a bunch of learned skills? While learning something and then gaining that skill as learned may not seem like one is gaining anything, the level multiplier effect that increases the impact of skills could make learned skills very powerful.

Matt finally got to the front of the line and saw the group in front of him give a bag of what looked to be goblin ears to the receptionist and the receptionist gave the adventurers a bulging bag of coins and they left. Matt then asked the cute receptionist if they had records of adventurers’ levels and if he could see them. The receptionist turned him down flat.

“For one thing, even if we kept such records, the adventurers wouldn’t like us to share that information. Adventurers have their enemies. Adventurer’s Guild will certify and rank Adventurers only as Bronze, Silver, Gold and, of course, Named Adventurers. You are free to ask anyone here about their levels, but they are also free to refuse. Next!”

Matt interviewed quite a few people in the adventurers guild and found more information on levels and asked them about their artifacts and magical weapons and armor. Some were close-lipped and suspicious, but most couldn't brag enough about their levels and equipment. Quite a few of them he had met with Suzy last night. He interviewed the group of wizards that showed them the first magic spell and asked them how much magic lessons cost. It turns out  _ if _ you were born with the aptitude and  _ if _ the mage was willing to teach you, individual custom magic lessons cost about five gold for a one on one lesson or twenty gold for ten introductory classes with others on a schedule. If one was truly talented, they would go to Windstrom to be taught by true masters and try to get a scholarship there. It was twenty gold a month unless you passed the exam. The wizards said that they still occasionally took a one-on-one lesson from their Windstrom mentor, but they were well beyond the beginner’s class. He was very interested in magic and got the name of and directions to the Windstrom mage that was willing to teach.

He found that many of the adventurers had a higher total level than the aging [Innkeeper] had over his entire life. He found that many of them had class consolidation causing classes to be blended into a newer more powerful class. The levels of the new class were reduced or compressed while keeping the skills from the old levels. Skills could be upgraded to more powerful versions. Lesser to enhanced to greater were used for things like strength and endurance. Some skills allowed things like the creation of materials of a limited worth that was related to their class they received it with. Some skills were able to affect others positively or negatively like [Second Wind] and [Rout Enemies].

He knew that the chances of having everything he hypothesized to be correct were slim, but he was willing to begin by only taking one class and sticking to it. He believed that everyone in this world was making the mistake of not being devoted to a single class. He must be careful to not even accidentally get another class. He needed to warn Suzy to not try to be her own manager or play any instruments. It could cause her to dilute her levels, which seems to be finite and exponentially powerful as her class level increases.

If what he understood about the leveling system was correct, he and Suzy had an advantage over others that no one else could access. Suzy could be the best singer in the world and with the songs from our world, that could be almost instant fame and fortune. He could be the best of anything with this secret. The best artist, woodworker, sculptor or cook in the world. It might take years, but with work and single-minded focus, he could do it.

He slowly got an idea of how much the coppers and silver were valued while talking with the adventurers. He estimated a copper was worth about a dollar, a silver about ten dollars, and a gold coin was about two hundred dollars. That wasn’t a strict interpretation though. Food and simple goods were really cheap, you could get a loaf of bread for a copper. A magical artifact might be worth tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of gold. Anything that had to do with rare materials, high quality or magic caused the price to inflate quickly. Manual labor was dirt cheap. A silver coin for a day of work was good pay. Specialized labor would be more expensive, especially magic. Matt thought it was no wonder that adventurers risked their lives to strike it rich.

Matt needed to have money to enact his plan and he couldn’t keep relying on Suzy. Any occupation will need materials to work with. He needed a tutor to get a head start on the class he picks and perhaps would teach him some tricks so he has some learned skills.

He had spoken with a gold rank team whose levels were much higher on average. One of them had shown him the new find they had discovered in a dangerous dungeon yesterday. An artifact that was worthy of a named adventurer. It was a huge maul with a gravity and a rooting enchantment. The user could swing it without worrying about losing their footing and could crank up the mass of the head of the weapon. The team had said that the artifact was worth at least a hundred thousand gold.

Matt knew that he wanted to level up in a class. But what to be and what would pay well and not be dangerous? No way would he want a high mortality occupation, like [Soldier], [Guard], or [Adventurer]. The safest class might be a crafter such as a [Smith] or [Tailor]. He had watched a bunch of youtube videos about woodworking and blacksmithing. He was leaning in the direction of a [Smith], making armor and weapons for the adventurers who sometimes found themselves rich.

Susy had mentioned to him that he liked the idea of crafting more than the actual work of crafting something. Matt always liked to say that he already had a job and didn’t want to get another job as a hobby. But that had been before the weight loss. Losing all that weight and putting on muscle had taken away the velcro his mother had said existed between his butt and the couch. He had more energy now, a desire to be active and use his newly acquired physique. He did know that it would be a lot of work, but he still had the urge to create something great from basic materials. Matt remembered that the [Innkeeper] had thought his pen was an artifact. Could he make magical weapons, armor and other artifacts? Oh! He could be the Tony Stark of this world! That idea whirled in his head for a moment.

Matt found he was hungry and realized he had spent the entire morning and afternoon interviewing and making notes on levels. He closed his notebook and headed back to the inn to talk to Suzy. As he left the adventurer’s guild, a group of what could only be [Knights] rode past in gleaming armor in the late afternoon sun on tall, well-groomed horses. Bob, a grizzled member of the Grey Wolves, who he had met last night, was leaning against the wall watching them pass with a look of thinly veiled loathing. He spat and glanced at Matt.

“Stinking [Knights]! All puffed up like they’re better than anyone else. Then they take everything nailed down when it’s to do with their quests. Many a time when we were planning on tackling a group of goblins or bandits or whatnot and they swoop in on our registered commission, spoiling weeks of preparation with not one copper to compensate us. Terandria is crawling with them. It makes me want to move to Izril. I hear there’s a new dungeon that opened up there with the drake city council nearly begging adventurers to strike it rich.”

Matt nodded and made supportive noises, forcing himself not to run after the [Knights] and ask them a million questions about their class. That class pulled at him quite a bit. Visions of King Arthur and the round table danced in his head. He felt like the Connecticut Yankee in Mark Twain’s book for a moment. But here magic was normal and he couldn't wow them with science. Or could he? Could he include principles of science into smithing and magic?

He crossed the street to enter the inn and found Suzy sitting at a table with two others talking animatedly with them. One was the scarred [Captain] of the Grey wolves and the other was a handsome young man in fine, clean and expensive clothes. Suzy waved him over.

“Hey Matt, you’ve met Sam last night, he’s the [Captain] of the Grey Wolves.”

Suzy indicated a strong greying man who nodded to Matt. Matt returned the gesture and Susy continued, smiling and placing her hand on the arm of the handsome stranger.

“And this is Jason, son of the [Lord] of this town and he has decided to become my patron! Jason, this is Matt, my best friend.”

Matt kept his face neutral, but he already didn’t like this guy. He noticed that Suzy left her hand on Jason’s arm. Matt had visions of Suzy falling in love with Jason, accepting a proposal of undying love or worse, that Jason was a good and honorable man. Matt tried to tell himself he was jumping to conclusions.

“What does being a patron include?”

Suzy enthusiastically replied, “He’d sponsor me to travel around Terandria visiting venues and I’d be required to perform at events when Jason or his family are hosting. He’s hired the Grey wolves to be my security while I’m traveling and I’ve got a budget for an entourage. We plan on leaving tomorrow morning.”

Matt was poleaxed, “Tomorrow morning? Suzy, are you sure you’re not jumping into this a little fast?”

“Matt this is my dream. I know it’s not exactly the same as it was, but I’m confident I can make it here. I’ll be able to take my shot at fame. Everything will be fine.”

Matt didn’t agree, but he knew how the argument would go if he tried to convince her to slow down when Suzy thought her career was on the line.

“Ok, ok. I get it. I do have something unrelated to speak with you about tonight before you go to sleep.”

Suzy nodded her head with a look that let him understand it was about the class system.

“Thanks. I’ll be sure to speak with you before sleep. You don’t have to guard me today, the Grey Wolves will be taking over for you. I do owe you for back pay though.”

Jason spoke up, “Here is what you and Suzy agreed to.” He handed him a heavy coin purse.

Matt thought that Suzy was making a mistake heading out into this strange world before they knew much about it. He didn’t think she knew how dangerous it might be, but he was impressed that she was able to invent a debt to him so her patron would fork over some money.

That night Suzy performed better than ever. She was in a nice blue dress that her patron had requested be made for her in an afternoon. Probably from some high level [Tailor] or [Seamstress]. She didn’t miss a note or a word. There was a [Guitarist] strumming the songs as she sang. Matt knew that most of the quality of the singing came from Suzy, but the skills she got last night really helped. He’d felt this way before when she went off to tour with her band. He secretly had been happy that she had failed after a few years and had come back home. He thought that he might have had a second chance with her. Now he felt that she was slipping away again.

Tomorrow she would be gone. The young [Lord] hadn’t been stingy, the bag had contained forty gold coins. With that sort of money, he could probably rent his own place and get all of the tools needed to start as smithy or armorer maybe even see if he had the natural aptitude required to become a [Mage]. He had spoken with the [Innkeeper] and he knew a dwarf [Smith] that worked on the outskirts of the city if he didn’t mind working with one. For some reason, the people of Terandria didn’t frequent his shop too much even though he was a higher level [Smith].

After Matt ate dinner he didn’t have the heart to listen to Suzy sing anymore. He made his way up the stairs to their room. The [Innkeeper] had mentioned that staying in the inn would be a silver a night, now that Suzy was moving on. Tuck was nice about it, but Matt could tell he was disappointed that Suzy was probably not going to be playing at his Inn anytime soon.

As he shut the door to the room, Matt could still hear the wonderful song that Suzy was singing, just muted a bit. He felt a little lost. He couldn’t believe that Suzy would leave after only one day. He felt that she was a fool for leaving before they could really understand how this world works.

Matt began to plan out his day for tomorrow. He needed to start making money as soon as possible and if he didn’t want to be stuck doing odd jobs or signing up for the bloodbath that he believed adventuring to be, he needed to establish himself and use his nest egg intelligently.

First, he’d be tested by the mage and if he had potential at magic, that might be his ticket. Otherwise, he’d need to get started on learning how to work metal and hire the dwarf [Smith] to teach him smithing. He had some good tips and tricks from watching Youtube for years about various crafting professions. He started to note them down as he remembered bits and pieces from what he had watched. Quite a bit of what he knew required power tools of one kind or another. If he was going to introduce some of his world’s inventions, he would need some power source. A windmill sounded good, but only if the wind blew consistently. If he could make a waterwheel that would be power on command. He started sketching outlines of what it might take to build a waterwheel.

Later Matt organized his backpack. He wanted to consult with an enchanter and see if his knives could be enchanted and how that worked. Hopefully, he could find out what went into enchanting an object and what material was best for enchanting. As a [Smith] he would do well to turn cheap raw materials into expensive finished works.

Smithing tasks could be automated and improved. A power hammer to use instead of a hammer and anvil would speed things up considerably. Other things might also be powered by a waterwheel such as a drill press, lathe, belt grinder, furnace blower, and band saw. He’d have to find land with a stream or a spring on it for the waterwheel. He would have to build everything that he imagined might help him from scratch. He’d have to reinvent things like ball bearings, belts and gears to make all of this work. A daunting prospect, but it was better than having no direction at all. He kept writing in his notebook as the songs continued to rise up from the common room.

Suzy came up very late. Matt was hurt that he might lose her in this strange new world by tomorrow morning. They agreed that this inn would be where they would go if they needed to leave messages for the other if there wasn’t a mail service. Matt showed her what he had found out about the leveling system and warned her against doing anything that might give her a new class.

They then prepared for bed as Suzy told him she wouldn’t need anything from her backpack besides some clothes and personal items and gave him her slightly deflated backpack. Matt took it reluctantly and they laid down in their beds and put out the light. As sleep quickly took Matt, he got a surprise.

[Researcher Class Obtained!]

[Researcher Level 1!]

[Skill -

Matt was panicked in his half-sleep and muttered, “Noooo!”

[Level Ups Cancelled]

Matt woke up completely. “Suzy! Wake up!”

A pillow smacked him in the face. It was a very heavy pillow.

“I was just starting to get to sleep! I might have leveled.”

“But Suzy, I started to level and was able to cancel it.”

Suzy had turned on her phone flashlight and looked confused. “I thought you wanted to level.”

“Yes, but I wanted to level as a [Blacksmith] or [Armorer], not as a [Researcher]. Though now that I think about it, researching skills would be really useful. I guess that’s the temptation. You get a skill that is helpful now, against just focusing on one class that gets really powerful later. In any case, you don’t have to avoid doing things that might get you another class. Just remember to cancel any new classes you get. You’ll be tired because it happens when you’re half asleep so it might be tough to do.”

Suzy began to stretch, “Cool, coo -- Yawn!”

Matt could tell that she wasn’t taking this seriously enough. “Suzy, do you want to be the best singer that this or our world has ever seen?”

Suddenly, Suzy was wide awake and had laser focus.

“Yes!”

“In that case, you must never take another class. If you are tempted to take another class, resist it unless it’s an upgrade to another upgraded form of [Singer]. I’m not sure if class consolidation reduces the levels or if there are “ghost” levels that are used in the total levels or might slow down your leveling speed.”

Suzy’s attention span seemed to be wavering.

“Okay. Cancel any new classes. Got it. Can you give me my pillow back?”

Matt hefted the pillow a few times, giving her an evil look… and gently underhanded it to her cringing from a few feet away.

She turned off her light and they laid back down on their beds. Matt’s brain was still whirling with the implications of the leveling system. Could unwanted classes be removed if you asked the system after you had them for a while? Why did the leveling system do things while you were half-asleep? Why specifically in that state of consciousness? For centuries, in his world, humans had written fiction about the connection between sleep and fantastical places where your suspension of disbelief was at its highest. Simply put, in dreams a lot of things made sense that wouldn’t in the waking world. In fiction, the world of faerie, leprechaun, and other legends, could be visited when close to or in a dream state. A place where things were nonsensical to logic, but had real power and sometimes danger. Many examples in movies had belief as a power, like the Force, a Patronus, or witchcraft from Bedknobs and Broomsticks. He turned on the flashlight on his phone to make some notes about these thoughts. His Android phone was getting low on batteries. He had a battery backup and solar cells in his backpack and he’d be able to charge it tomorrow.

Suzy sat up.

“Matt! I leveled again! I’m a level ten [Singer] now. I did start to level as [Negotiator], but rejected that one even though I think it could be useful for me.”

“Only at first Suzy. Then those class levels would prevent you from getting a higher level in [Singer]. I don’t have enough data yet, but it seems that skills use the class level and not your highest or total levels for the strength of the skills that are related to the class. So you’d end up as a high level [Singer] with a level one based [Negotiator] skill that won’t be very powerful.”

Matt finished his notes and turned off the light. He was both excited for the future and scared for Suzy going out on her own. He had some bad nightmares that night.


End file.
